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Thursday, May 16, 2013

While Ferrari and McLaren dealt the first hands in the battle of the hybrid hypercars, Porsche lurked in the shadows to observe their every move. That said, CAR Magazine of the UK reports that Porsche will be revealing the next participant in this insanely electrifying battle: the all-new Porsche 918 Spyder hybrid.

The 918 is said to be seemingly outgunned and less eco-friendly than both the McLaren and the Ferrari, but Porsche’s product manager James Eastwood promises that the Porsche will be faster in certain conditions.

‘Although our car is heavier, its technology can make the car faster [in certain conditions],” Eastwood said. “In rear-drive cars like our competitors, you still have to do all your braking in a straight line, compromising corner-entry speed. Thanks to the 918’s torque-vectoring and independently-driven front wheels, we can maintain better drive and achieve higher entry and mid-corner speed.”

The Porsche 918 Spyder is expected to utilize a naturally aspirated 4.6L V8 mated to an 84hp electric motor mounted on the front axle and a 127hp motor sitting at the rear. Total figures haven’t been tallied just yet, but you can expect them to be very high, especially with a projected selling price of £768,026, or $1,168,935 US. Fuel economy has been recorded to hover around 82 mpg on the combined European cycle, with Eastwood touting the 918’s ability to accomplish this in general while returning an estimated sub-three second 0-62 time and a top speed of 203 mph.